Description

BETA Alert--This text has Beta. If you don't want it, don't read it. This climb might be the route for the people who like Jane Fonda's Total Body Workout. It's a burl-fest!

The first 15-20 feet is scissor-ing/chimney-ing up a flaring slot with one awesome hand in the perfect #2 crack. It's a fair grunt-fest through this section but awfully secure thanks to the bomber hand crack deep in there. When this ends there's a section of perfect, easy #2s.

Then it widens to a (right side-in) OW/Squeeze Chimney. You might want your gear on the left side. I had mine on a shoulder sling, which worked well. My partner tried to start the squeeze left side in but it didn't go too well. By keeping the right in you can gain access to some edges on the left side of the wall up high. Mantle out of the chimney onto a ledge. Perfect rest.

Then surmount a sweet little roof, work up another few feet, get past a fairly discouraging wide slot, then it's tight hands and hands to the top. Full value and a good time.

Expect it to be a bit harder than many of the other 5.11- climbs in the neighborhood, unless you're pretty unfazed by the wide.

Location

The route is to the left of 20 meters to the left of big baby. A seventy meter rope is just a hair too short...you'll need two ropes.

Protection

Highly recommend a durable long sleeve shirt and wearing socks under them climbing shoes. I had neither and my belayer was dodging drops of blood.

I used: 6 #2 camalots 5 #3 camalots 1 #1 camalot 1 #4 camalot

The squeeze protects well with a #4 stuffed back in there, but if you want to sew it up you'll need 2 of them.

I'm sure its just my general dislike for offwidths and flares etc, but I absolutely hated this route and found it to be the hardest 11- I have ever done at IC (again, I suck at this type of climbing). One massive grunt. Two different flares, both amazingly awkward. I have sort of smallish hands and the majority of this route was big cupped hands in the back of a hateful flare. The last 20 feet or so were actually OK, but thats it.